We've chosen a home!

It looks like our home for the next 6-9 months will be at Duke University Medical Center. Thanks to all who were praying today that Matt and I would sense the Lord's presence during our visit to Duke. Matt and I prayed specifically that the Lord would go before us today, prepare the way if it was His will and make His peace known. Well, would you believe that as we walked into the lobby of the Children's Health Center a gospel choir was belting out loudly "O Come Let Us Adore Him ... CHRIST THE LORD!" He had gone before us, and His name was already being praised in this place! The singing echoed through the lobby and up to the loft of the oncology clinic! Aside from the singing, we had a good visit - met a couple of great doctors and most importantly have peace about starting treatment here at Duke. That being said, there was a bit of a scheduling kink, due to the holidays and the time span needed to switch all of Matheson's tests and lab work from Baptist to Duke. Therefore, the doctors from both hospitals have agreed to work together in a somewhat creative fashion to get Matheson's treatment started as quickly as possible- So here's the plan of action:
We will be able to be at home for Christmas. While we are anxious to get things started, we are also pleased to be able to spend Matheson's first Christmas together as a family. Jaxon and Jones deserve some loving and lots of presents too! This is going to be super tough on them as well- (not that presents change that...)
Monday, Dec 29th - we will have pre-op visits with the oncology clinic, pediatric surgeon and anesthesiologist at Baptist. Tuesday, Dec 30th - the surgeon at Baptist will place a central line (to enable Matheson to receive chemotherapy), do a spinal tap (to check spinal fluid for leukemic cells) and inject an initial dose of "preventative" chemotherapy into the spinal fluid. If all goes well, we will be able to bring Matheson home that night. Wednesday, Dec 31st - Matheson will be admited to Duke and will begin his first round of chemotherapy.
Please continue to pray for Matheson - that in this time that we are waiting, and enjoying our family time, that the leukemia will not spread elsewhere. We pray that the procedure next Tuesday goes according to plan, with no complications and that the transition to Duke is a smooth one on Wednesday.
From this point on, I will be journaling on a caringbridge site that I have created for Matheson. We would certainly appreciate you passing this site along to others you know that are praying -
www.caringbridge.org/visit/mathesonbarber